Brad Hicks

A retired Navy captain and former executive at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greeneville to knowing receipt of child pornography.
Timothy Edward Lindstrom, 56, of Jonesborough, waived his right to indictment and entered a written plea agreement to an information.
According to a plea agreement document written by Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen C.T. Smith and filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Lindstrom, using computers in his Jonesborough home, purchased a monthly subscription to an online newsgroup and installed a newsgroup reader program and a search engine for newsgroups. The combination of these features enabled Lindstrom to search for and receive files from other computer users via the Internet, the plea agreement document states.
From January 2006 through February 2011, Lindstrom used the newsgroup software to download images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct via the Internet, according to the plea agreement document. The document also states that during this time frame, Lindstrom received more than 7,000 still images and 21 video files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit activity.
Lindstrom used search terms associated with child pornography, according to court documents.
“When he located and received images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the defendant downloaded the images and saved them to electronic folders labeled with the screen name of the child depicted or the Internet source of the images,” the plea agreement document said.
The case’s prosecution was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, according to a release from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Lindstrom was employed at NFS from the fall 2006 to fall 2010. His title when he left was vice president of operations.
U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer remanded Lindstrom to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending his sentencing, which is set for May 21.
Lindstrom faces a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, a maximum of lifetime supervised release, restitution and forfeiture of instrumentalities of the offense and a $100 special mandatory assessment fee.
“These cases are disturbing, but the United States will continue to prosecute whoever is violating these laws and subjecting our children to these illegal influences,” U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said in a release. “Fortunately, the efforts of the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith resulted in this conviction.”